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Introduction to Copaganda in Anime and Manga
Media from all over the globe contains an abundance of pro-law enforcement storylines and themes. Anime and manga are not exempt from this, with some of the most successful franchises in both mediums espousing dangerous, pro-cop social politics. That’s why this piece aims to introduce new and old anime fans to the concept of copaganda, highlight some of the most popular ways the practice appears so that it can be regularly identified, and offer some direction on how fans can still enjoy the mediums in spite of these prevalent themes.

Historyby Lucas DeRuyter September 17, 20210 Comments
How racial inequality in From the New World mirrors the Black American struggle
When your cries are constantly dismissed under thinly veiled apologies, it can be hard to feel seen or heard, but that is exactly what happened when I stumbled upon From the New World, the anime adaptation of Kishi Yusuke’s novel by the same name. I ventured into the series expecting a casual sci-fi horror but was instead met with a much deeper allegory for discrimination that paralleled my feelings of being a minority in America.

Historyby Nubia Jade Brice March 19, 20210 Comments
Dressed to Kill la Kill: The overlooked power of fashion’s rebellious history
While Kill la Kill was all about clothes and the way commodification objectifies bodies, it missed the opportunity to talk about the rich history of rebellion using fashion. And moreover, it failed to interrogate the real villains running the show.

Historyby Vrai Kaiser March 5, 20210 Comments
Feathers and Glass: How Swan’s heroines find themselves through dance
Swan, which ran in Margaret from 1976 until 1981, follows Hijiri Masumi, an average high school girl from rural Hokkaido, who through the course of the series becomes famous as a modern ballet dancer. One of her key relationships is her friendship and rivalry with Lillianna Maksimova, a Russian classical ballet prodigy. This relationship uplifts them both, as the series uses Lillianna as an avenue to explore just how harmful and restrictive gender roles and expectations can be.

Historyby Zahra Ymer February 24, 20210 Comments
The queer blood ties of Vampire Princess Miyu
Miyu is born a vampire, and her bite does not seem to turn her victims into other vampires. In Vampire Princess Miyu, blood bonds become not something that transfers a vampiric condition, but something that creates connection. While in some vampire stories it can also forge mythical bonds, the conventional vampire bite crucially also transfers a condition (vampirism). But here, the connections are not accompanied by transformation. Rather than giving you new traits, its only effect is to create a link between yourself and another person.

Historyby Camellia James January 27, 20210 Comments
The Surprisingly Queer-Friendly Narrative of Cybersix
Japanese animation has found numerous sources of inspiration, from comics and novels to video games and toys, located from both within and outside of its national borders. But when it came to the 90s, few have the unique history, and overwhelming queer vibes , that the anime adaptation of Cybersix does.

Historyby Patricia C. Baxter December 16, 20200 Comments
A Swing and a Miss: The mixed-up feminism of Princess Nine
Princess Nine wants to be an empowering lady-led sports anime, but it can’t quite shake off the gendered expectations about what girls “really” want or who society thinks they’re “supposed” to be.

Historyby Dee October 23, 20200 Comments
Youth in Revolt: How the late-80s/early-90s celebrated the young rebelling against their elders
For every manga and anime from the 1980s and 1990s that promoted conformity to society and obeying the rules, there were many others that instead featured delinquents as protagonists and found popularity among readers who inherited an economy pulverized by their parents.

Historyby Anthony Gramuglia July 29, 20200 Comments
Reclaiming the Witch Through Magical Girls
There comes a time in every girl’s life where she’s obsessed with one thing: the occult.

Historyby Nina Morales February 7, 20200 Comments
The Transcendent and the Perverse: Sexuality in Apollo’s Song and MW
Tezuka Osamu’s gekiga show some artistic experimentation, but also dig further into his conservative ideas about gender and sexuality, which were more ignorable in titles aimed at wider audiences. Two stories in particular, Apollo’s Song and MW, hammer in how much of his work was steeped in heteronormativity and homophobia.

Historyby Malia December 18, 20190 Comments
FAKE and the Found Family: The ’90s BL cop drama that influenced a genre
FAKE is a BL mystery-drama manga originally published between 1994 and 2000. The dominant emotional line throughout the series is the evolving relationship between detectives Dee and Ryo. However, just as important as the mysteries and the growing romance is the found family that the detectives build and the support it provides them.

Historyby M.E. Laut November 13, 20190 Comments
Nonconforming in the ‘90s: How Pokemon’s gender variance caught the hearts of a generation
Twenty years ago, I fell in love with the Pokemon anime. Now, I think I can finally tell you why: why this strange, silly, sincere show mattered. How it filled the space between “boy stuff” and “girl stuff,” treated both as having value, and challenged why there was a division in the first place.

Historyby Dee November 1, 20190 Comments
Shoujo Manga’s Lost Generation
The 1950s and 1960s were a time of incredible change, when a generation of young women emerged to forge many of the conventions and visual language we associate with shoujo manga. That makes it all the more tragic that this period has fallen into obscurity, as time and circumstances threaten to erase it.

Historyby Megan D August 7, 20190 Comments
Not with a Bang, but a Letter: How Violet Evergarden rewrites traditional World War I narratives
Violet Evergarden reimagines historical discussion of post-traumatic stress, early 1900s literary tropes, and the popular “war narrative” genre, but with a female child soldier as its protagonist. In its remixing and calling back to World War I history and especially women’s history, the series provides a fresh take on an old tale with a strong undercurrent of feminist themes.

Historyby Katie Randazzo July 24, 20190 Comments
Every Rose Has Its Thorns: Vilifying female ambition in The Rose of Versailles
As a main character, Oscar is an all-encompassing figure who struggles with gender roles, duty, empathy, and more. But with Marie Antoinette and the women who act as villains, we see a more traditional exploration of female power, ambition, and anger.

Historyby Marion Bea June 21, 20190 Comments
Southeast Asians Not Included: Black Lagoon and the invisible civilians
Sayang. It’s a word in Tagalog that expresses light frustration and disappointment at a missed opportunity, a combination of “so close” and “what a shame” in one word.

Historyby Carlo Lopez May 17, 20190 Comments
The Tezuka Revue: How an all-woman theatre troupe influenced the Godfather of Manga
Osamu Tezuka is considered one of the most influential artists in the manga and comic industry. But who inspired Tezuka? It’s common knowledge that he was a huge Walt Disney fan, but there’s an influence on Tezuka that isn’t as well known: the Takarazuka Revue.

Historyby Dafne Veliz March 29, 20190 Comments
From Princes to Pigeons: A Beginner’s Guide to Otome Games
In the world of video games, anything is possible. You can be a cavegirl dating pigeons in a post-apocalyptic romantic dramedy, or someone helping humanized swords fight against historical revisionism, or you could even be a gender-nonconforming barista at a cat cafe. In other words, you could be playing an otome game.

Historyby Katie Randazzo March 20, 20190 Comments
Flowers for Zoisite: How Sailor Moon’s iconic queer villains raised the bar
While the romance between Sailors Uranus and Neptune has rightfully earned praise,Sailor Moon’s other explicitly queer relationship gets little notice. And that’s a shame, because Zoisite and Kunzite were remarkably progressive compared to both their contemporaries and what had come before.

Historyby Vrai Kaiser November 16, 20180 Comments
Banana Fish and the real-world racial politics of 1980s America
The classic 1980s Banana Fish manga is a painful read because it’s able to capture how pervasive white supremacy is throughout all sectors of society. The series also depicts how that ideology is perpetuated through interpersonal relationships and how it has an influence on real-world policy decisions.

Historyby ThatNerdyBoliviane November 7, 20180 Comments